


It’s something else (I need help)

by rachel0_04



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Warning: Talks about Depression and stuff, i guess it’s angst, thats what ive been told
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 10:54:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15338325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rachel0_04/pseuds/rachel0_04
Summary: “It’s hard.”“What is Jihoon?”“Life. Can I quit?”“No. Not yet. Please don’t.” Really meant ‘Not without me. Don’t leave me here. I need you.’





	It’s something else (I need help)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!!! This is a one shot. Came from a burst of inspiration and from reading other amazing stories. WARNING!! THIS WILL CONTAIN SOME TRIGGERING THINGS SUCH AS TALKING ABOUT DEPRESSION AND STUFF. If you need help, please get help. Don’t suffer alone. This is all purely made up, so don’t take it as truth. thanks for reading and please comment what you think. Without further ado....... here it is!!!

“It’s hard.”

“What is Jihoon?”

“Life. Can I quit?”

“No. Not yet. Please don’t.” Really meant ‘Not without me. Don’t leave me here. I need you.’ Jihoon always scared you. One minute he’d be fine, the next he would just say things like this abruptly. You liked him, no, you loved him, though you can’t say that yet. It’s hurts to see him so obviously suffering, but you can’t help.

“Fine whatever.” Woozi says as he looks down at the food he was just eating happily. He just starts stabbing it with a fork. You sighed silently. It can’t go on like this. He does this more and more. You think as you softly take the fork from him. He didn’t move at all, still staring at his mushed lunch. You want to cry a little.

“Let’s get out of the food court, huh? It’s a little stuffy. Where to?” You say, suddenly not hungry anymore. You hated the way your voice is so thin and fragile. It gave you away too easily, not that Jihoon seemed to even notice.

“Uhhh, when have I ever cared about anything?” He snorts with no humor as he gets up and trashes his half eaten food. He looks back at you as you slowly stand and do the same. For a second, Woozi’s gaze softened and he looked at you with a sad expression and sighs.

“How about the park?” Jihoon suggests, looking at the ground. He confused you by the way he did things. He was so different. You shrugged.

“Sure. That sounds nice I guess.”

 

 

 

 

As you two walked to the park, there was a silence. In that silence, you thought of him. How he was and how you loved him so. How... how, no matter what, that you need him and that he needs you. How you always wait for the moment when he asks for your help. Because you know him. That’s what he wants.

 

 

 

“It looks like it hurts.”

“I’m fine.”

“Ok.” You don’t say anything else to him as he shifts slightly on the table where he sat down on. He has a bruise on his cheek bone and a bloody lip. You grab a small damp washcloth and dab his lip softly until the blood is gone. As you study his hurt lip, you also take time to notice the dark circles under his eyes and how much skinnier he is. You held your tongue from saying these things as he began to speak. College isn’t his best time, so it’s not your’s either.

“They’re so stupid.” You nod.

“They can call me short all they want, I don’t care. It doesn’t hurt anyway, because I know it’s true.” You nod again and grabbed the cream that you found for his lip.

“What do they think they’ll get out of beating me up? Nothing. That’s why they won’t do it again. I’m not a good enough victim.” You nod a third time as you softly put some ointment on his damaged lips. He closes his eyes tightly and let’s out a hiss of air, but says nothing of pain.

“I hate them.” His eyes glisten, but he doesn’t cry.

“Me too.” You say finally, giving him a smile.

 

 

 

“High School’s a bust.”

“But that’s how we met.”

“Yeah, well other than that, it’s terrible.” Jihoon said as he shoved a bite of pizza in his face. You took a bite of the burger that you got from the cafeteria. The school food was bad, but you put up with it for years now and you didn’t so much as even care about what it was anymore. Granted, this school was way better than the one that you had been doomed to go to before your family moved. Not that that made the move away from all the people you had ever known any better, but now you had Jihoon. You don’t know how you could have ever lived without him.

“Hey! Shortie~!” Jihoon slouched down and sighed heavily at the call. You look up to see a giant, fat, pimply boy walk over to the table.

“Got yourself a girlfriend? Huh?” Woozi didn’t answer the guy, he just kept his head down as the guy laughed an ugly laugh. Your blood boiled. You opened your mouth to say something, but you got cut off by someone.

“Leave him alone! Just because he isn’t taller than you doesn’t mean anything. He’s probably way smarter than you, at least smart enough not to bully other people. I bet you won’t say a thing to him if he was bigger than you. You’re just a wipe in disguise.” Some girl you recognized to be someone on the student council said. The bully growled.

“Say it to my face!”

“Sorry, but I don’t want to get that close to you anytime soon.” She said, making the whole room erupt in ‘ohhs’ and ‘ahhs.’ As the teachers came to take the bully and the girl away and calm down the lunchroom, you looked at Woozi. Just as you were going to say how nice that girl was, he rolled his eyes and spoke.

“I hate it when people do that. Help me without asking if I want help. I could have handled that. Please don’t ever do that to me, ok? If I need your help, then I’ll ask you.” Jihoon looked at you with eyes that were waiting for you to say yes, something you didn’t want to do. You wanted to be able to help him at any time.

“Of course.” But you also wanted to make him happy.

 

 

“I bought some food to stock your cabinets!!” You say as you opened the door to Jihoon’s apartment, carrying a few bags of groceries.

“Joonie?” You set them on the table.

“Jihoon?” You looked around the living room and then his bedroom. Nothing.

“Jihoon!?!” You start to panic. You walk down the hallway about to call his phone when you notice the light from under the bathroom door.

“Joonie? Can you let me in?” Your heart is racing as you softened your voice, knocking on the door. You hear nothing on the other side of wood.

“Please?” He had just graduated with a small degree in the musical arts and it just seemed to be getting better as he landed a job at a music production company. You got a job as a daycare teacher that was near both his work and his apartment, so you could come to him anytime he needed you. What went wrong?

“Y/n?” There was a sniffling and scratchy voice from behind the door, but nevertheless you knew who it was.

“Yeah, it’s me Joonie. Can you open the door?” You asked, hoping he would obey and also not notice how you were using the same voice you used to ask children to share their toys. Fortunately, both of your hopes came true.

“What’s up?” Jihoon said as he opened the door a crack, as if he could hide behind the door and pretend that he was ok or hide his eyes that were red from crying by looking at the ground. You sighed and wiped the tears from his face.

“Bad day at work?” You asked, although you were pretty sure that you knew what was going on. He shrugged.

“You could say that...” He sighed. You couldn’t help yourself as you pushed the door open so you could wrap your arms around him. Is he depressed? Or is it just stress? Is he ok? Does he need me? You thought as he slowly hugged you back.

“Why are you hugging me?” Because you need this.

“Because I need it.” Yeah... I need it too. You remembered how you had asked a co-worker for help without using too much information. Seungkwan’s words rang in your ears.

“You should talk to them. Seems like they need help, even if they won't admit it. I was like that once. Now look at me. I’m amazing.” You smiled at his past words as you clung onto Jihoon for dear life. You knew what Suengkwan said was true, but you still couldn’t go against your high school promise.

 

 

 

“I wonder what we look like coming here in this weather?”

“Probably delinquents.” Your words make Jihoon laugh. A true laugh. One you haven’t heard in a while.

“When have we ever been what we seemed?”

“I don’t understand Joonie.”

“Me neither.”

You both finally made it to the park. The day was a bit cloudy and it looked like it was going to rain, so there wasn’t many people in the park as you two entered it. You looked over at Woozi. Watching him became a habit of yours. Jihoon looked back at you, something in his eyes.

“What is it Y/n? Why do you always look at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like.... like your studying an artwork and want to talk about it, but you don’t want to disturb the quiet the museum.”

“That’s an interesting description.” Jihoon huffed at your complement.

“That’s not an answer.” You sighed and stopped walking on the path, turning to Woozi.

“You know why Joonie. You’ve known for years now.” You said. He just watched you, his eyes darting across all of you, as if trying to full understand what you just said.

“Oh...”

“Yeah...” Jihoon didn’t say anything to you, but he did give you a look. A look that said to say something a little more. To say something else to persuade him to speak.

“I like you Lee Jihoon.” You said as you took a step to close the distance between you both, figuratively and literally.

“I need you to help me. To be with me and talk to me. Ask me for help.” You continued as you took another step. You now stood a step away from him, an open book, waiting to be read.

“How can you help me?” Woozi asked softly, like maybe he was afraid.

“I can help you find help. Therapists... or doctors, though I know you don’t like them. Talk to you about everything. Love you. If... if you want me to. If you ask me to.” There was a few seconds of silence before he took a step forward.

“Will you help me? Even when I can’t help myself?” His voice cracked as he hugged you tightly and started to cry into your shoulder. That was the first time you saw him cry since you met him.

“Of course. I promise.” You said as you patted his back and let him cry out his heart.

 

 

 

Of course, it wasn’t a fairytale ending for you both. You did get together and move in together. His career stayed steady enough and the daycare never left. The doctors were nice, but the pills made him moody, so you didn’t do that. He said the best thing he had to help him was you, so you were always there when you were able. And he, slowly, got better bit by bit. Not all the way better, mind you, but better than he was.

After a year, he proposed. The wedding was small. A few friends came and you earned a ‘I told you so’ from Seungkwan. It was nice.

Now it was a year after that. Much hasn’t changed much, except that you found out that you were expecting twins. Jihoon said he had never been happier, and then proceeded to lock himself in your shared room for an hour, claiming he had to calm down. But everything was ok. Like it always has been. Like it always will be.

“I love you.”

“I love you.”


End file.
